Democrat Bobbi Boudman flipped a Republican seat in the New Hampshire House this week. She defeated GOP nominee Dale Fincher in a special election for Carroll County’s District 7.
This area had recently supported Republicans and voted for Donald Trump in 2024. Boudman received 2,207 votes, or 51.9%, while Fincher got 2,042 votes, or 48.1%. These results are from certified information reported by Ballotpedia and local news from New Hampshire Public Radio.
The results from March 10 represented a striking change from the last regular election in the district. In November 2024, Republican Glenn Cordelli defeated Boudman, receiving 5,095 votes to her 3,871, a margin of 56.8% to 43.1%. Cordelli resigned from office on Nov. 12, 2025, creating the vacancy that led to this special election.
District Carroll 7 includes Ossipee, Tuftonboro, and Wolfeboro. NHPR reported that Boudman built her winning margin in Wolfeboro, her hometown, where she outperformed Fincher, getting 1,303 votes to his 1,024. Fincher won in Ossipee, 487 to 425, and in Tuftonboro, 531 to 479.
Host: Democrats in New Hampshire also added to the party’s string of special election wins last night. Democrat Bobbi Boudman defeated Republican Dale Fincher to flip a state legislative seat in a district that Trump carried by 9 points in 2024. Democrats have flipped 28 seats in… pic.twitter.com/91ZFtQGInh
— FactPost (@factpostnews) March 11, 2026
However, that was not enough to keep the seat for Republicans. NHPR noted that the district is typically Republican, making this outcome one of the more significant special-election results in New Hampshire this year.
This district is also in Carroll County, where Trump narrowly won the presidential vote in 2024. County-level results show Trump received 50.28% of the vote in Carroll County compared to Kamala Harris’ 48.54%. The Daily Beast described this area as strongly supportive of Trump.
Boudman had previously run for the same House seat twice. Ballotpedia indicates she lost to Cordelli in both 2022 and 2024. Her win in 2026 thus ended a series of Republican victories in the district and gave Democrats a gain in the New Hampshire House during a time when they are trying to challenge GOP control of state government. NHPR noted that before adding the special election results, the House had 214 Republicans, 177 Democrats, and one independent.
Both parties saw this race as competitive. NHPR reported that Republicans raised over $60,000 to support Fincher, while Boudman raised more than $12,000. This spending gap, along with the district’s recent voting patterns, made the Democratic victory even more remarkable.
🔵 Democrats flip another seat in the New Hampshire State House.
Democrat Bobbi Boudman wins a special election in a Trump+9 district, after losing the same seat by 14 points in 2024. A 13-point Democratic overperformance. pic.twitter.com/WGxICc6nGN
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) March 11, 2026
In a statement to NHPR, New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley said the result showed that Democrats can still win in tough areas. “The contrast couldn’t be any clearer: while New Hampshire Republicans try to cover up their disastrous agenda that has raised costs across the board for working families, Democrats are winning elections,” Buckley said.
The race also fit into a broader trend that Democrats have observed in state-level contests since Trump returned to the White House. Boudman’s victory was the latest in a series of Democratic wins in special elections for state legislatures. According to Democratic counts from those reports, Democrats claimed 28 pickups nationwide, while Republicans did not gain any.
